News, weekly update, 30 January

The House of Lords has rejected the
requirement for consideration of a child's need for a father when offering IVF
treatment. While debating the British government's Human Fertilisation and
Embryology (HFE) bill, peers agreed, without a vote, to replace references in
the HFE Act of 1990 to "the need of that child for a father" with "the need of
that child for supportive parenting". [Evening
Standard, 22 January]

Senator John McCain, one of the potential Republican candidates in
the US presidential
elections, has reaffirmed his support for embryonic stem cell research in an
interview with Catholic reporters in Florida. Mr McCain said his
support for such research was "one of the toughest decisions I've ever had... one
reason being very frankly is those embryos will be either discarded or kept in
permanent frozen status". The senator, whose voting record is said to be
otherwise pro-life, hoped that advances in adult stem cell research would soon
make the embryonic stem cells issue academic. [CNA
on EWTN, 23 January]

Planned Parenthood plans to spend $10
million during the US elections, in a campaign to try to win a million votes for
pro-abortion candidates. The organisation, the nation's largest
abortion-provider, only entered the political scene in 2004. "To keep our doors open,"
said Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards, "it's clear that we
need to step into the electoral arena." [CNA on EWTN, 23
January]

The European Human Embryonic Stem Cell
registry, sponsored by the European Commission and hosted in Germany,
has been launched. It gives general information about the origins and use
of all available human embryonic stem-cell lines developed in Europe. [Nature, 23
January] A new opinion poll shows that the majority of Germans are opposed
to using human embryos for research, and that this majority has increased since
the development of methods to create pluripotent stem cells from adult tissue. In
the same report, LifeSite relate that Karl Cardinal Lehmann, reputed as the
leader of the German Catholic church's liberal/progressive wing, has spoken out
against proposed relaxation of Germany's
embryo experimentation laws. This is in
contrast to the support for the proposals by his counterpart among Protestants,
Wolfgang Huber. [LifeSite,
23 January]

US research scientists
have reportedly created the whole genome of an organism from simple genetic
material. The research, at the J Craig Venter Institute, Maryland, and reported on in
the Science journal, entailed
manufacturing the DNA of a synthetic version of Mycoplasma
genitalium, a simple common
bacterium. In future, the
technique could allow organisms to be designed for specific purposes
like generating biofuels. Concerns have
been expressed about the ethical consequences. [BBC, 24 January]

Researchers at the University of Miami, Florida, have found
evidence of stem cells in the pancreas in mice. If stem cells can be found in
the human pancreas, it could make possible therapies for diabetes. Such cells
could be used to generate insulin-producing cells, the deficiency of which
causes diabetes. Researchers emphasised that clinical application of their
findings was a long way off. [Washington Post, 24 January]

The Catholic bishops of Georgia, USA, have refused to
support a proposed pro-life amendment to the state's constitution. The
amendment would guarantee the right to life of all human beings from
conception. The bishops' statement said that, while they do not oppose the
amendment, they have come to the conclusion that it does not offer a realistic
method of ending or reducing abortion, since only a change to the federal
constitution could do this. [LifeSite,
23 January]